Is the glorified body of Jesus physical?

2^nd Sunday of Easter, John 20:19-31

Jesus came and stood in their midst […] he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

On occasion, various modern theologians will speculate as to the quality of Christ’s risen and glorified body. Some will affirm that – since what was sown in mortality is raised in immortality, and the corruptible is raised incorruptible – the resurrected body of our Savior is not really a physical body. Indeed, this was a question or doubt which has existed since the first apparitions, when the disciples often thought that they were seeing a ghost or spirit.

 This question, whether Christ’s glorified body is a physical body, has great importance for our belief in the general resurrection on the last day. If Christ’s body were not physical, then neither will the glorified bodies of the saints be physical. However, if the glorified body of the Savior is a physical body, then so too will it be for the saints.

In such matters, reason alone can do nothing – we must turn to the witness of Scripture. In particular we consider the accounts of this Sunday’s Gospel as well as the Gospel readings from the rest of the Easter Octave.

For Divine Mercy Sunday, How to make a good confession

Divine Mercy Sunday, John 20:23

Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.

“See here the commission, stamped by the broad seal of heaven, by virtue of which the pastors of Christ’s Church absolve repenting sinners upon their confession.” (from the Douay-Rheims Bible Commentary)

It is clear that the Sunday of Divine Mercy is a day dedicated in a particular way to the sacrament of reconciliation. Indeed, in many parishes throughout the world, it is customary on this Sunday for the priests to be especially available to hear confessions throughout the day. How great a gift we have in this most precious sacrament, by which the blood of Christ is sacramentally poured out upon us and we are washed clean of our sins. Here the Divine Mercy is most evident – for the good God accepts the prodigal and clothes him as his own son once again! Oh blood and water which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in you!

However, although we know the necessity and the value of the sacrament, all of us (I dare say) have room for great improvement in making a more worthy confession. We should all continually be asking ourselves, How might I make a good (or better) confession? How might a good confession today, lead me to an even better confession in the future?

In defense of pseudonymous blogging

It happens occasionally that a reader of the New Theological Movement – or more often a one-time visitor with a grudge – will demand to know the identities of the writers of this blog. Rarely is this in any way related to the theology being presented, but more often it is purely out of curiosity (which St. Thomas considers to be a vice). Nor is this phenomenon limited to the New Theological Movement: It seems that just about anyone who consistently maintains a pseudonymous blog (if it is at all popular) will be criticized for this pseudonymity.

In this short post, we will make a defense of pseudonymity, and specifically, of pseudonymous blogging. At the end, we will offer a couple of reasons why the New Theological Movement adopted this pseudonymous approach thus far.

The origins of the Easter egg: The Resurrection, St. Mary Magdalene, and the Lenten Fast

St. Mary Magdalene holding a red Easter egg

In the United States, it is common for children (and even adults) to partake in an Easter egg hunt as part of the Easter Sunday celebrations. In other parts of the world, the Easter egg tradition is incorporated not through games but through the blessing of eggs by the parish priest. Indeed, even in the secular world, the Easter egg could be the most prominent symbol used for the “holiday season”. But what is the origin of the Easter egg?

The egg as a symbol of the Resurrection

Probably the most well known explanation of the Easter egg today is the symbolic representation of the Resurrection. As the egg appears to be lifeless, yet holds much life within itself; so too, the tomb appeared to be utterly lifeless, but from it Christ arose. Of course, we mention here that there is a great difference in the way a chick comes forth from the egg and the way Christ came forth from the tomb – for our Savior walked through the walls of the sealed tomb.

Who saw Christ rising from the dead?

The Resurrection did not look like this.

In many popular depictions of the Resurrection, the Lord Jesus comes forth from the tomb clothed in glory and splendor, while the guards fall back to the ground. Seeing the Risen Christ, all are terrified and cannot speak. This is the scene: Christ rising from an open tomb, and the Roman guards cowering to the dust.

In two points, however, these artistic depictions of the Resurrection contradict the Scriptures. Last year, we considered that Christ rose from the tomb while it was still closed – in other words: Jesus walked through the walls of the sealed tomb, just as he would enter the locked upper room where the disciples had gathered.

Now, we consider the fact that, when Jesus rose from the dead, none saw him in his rising. He came forth from the tomb by walking through the walls which enclosed him, but the guards did not see this. No one witnessed the Resurrection, no one fell down before the glory of the rising Lord, there was no bright light and no glorious splendor (at least none that was visible to the human eye).

The night alone witnessed the rising of Christ, as the Church sings in her Easter Exultet: “O truly blessed night, which alone has merited to know the time and the hour in which Christ rose from the depths!” O vere beata nox, quae sola meruit scire tempus et horam, in qua Christus ab inferis resurrexit! Neither the guards who were on watch through the entire night, nor the women who came in the morning saw the Resurrection itself. That night alone! That most blessed of all nights! The mystery of the rising of Christ is hidden perhaps even from the angels.

For three days, God was a dead body and a corpse was God

Behold your God

On Holy Saturday we recall that period in which Christ’s body was laid to rest in the tomb, while his soul descended into the hell of the fathers to proclaim the Gospel to those who had died with faith in the Messiah who was to come. The body laid in the tomb was a dead body. The soul of Christ, his human soul, had been given up on the Cross – And Jesus again crying with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost (Matthew 27:50).

Christ had truly died and, for those days while his body lay in the tomb, God was dead. Not, of course, that God was dead in his divinity – just as Christ did not suffer in his divinity, but only in his humanity, likewise he died only in his humanity – but it is true that a divine person died. God was dead in the person of the Son; the Father, however, did not die (just as the Father did not suffer).

Recognizing the truth that the Eternal Word truly died – that is, his human soul was separated from his human body – by the communication of idioms, we can say that God died (as we can and must say that God became man). Can we go further and say that God was a dead body, and that a corpse was God?

Crux fidelis inter omnes. Text, translation, and music of Fulgentius' hymn

Bl. John XXIII venerates the cross

“Of faithful Cross above all other, one and only noble Tree!” These words, from the eighth stanza of Fulgentius’ hymn Pange, lingua, gloriosi direct us to the adoration of the Cross in the Good Friday commemoration of the Lord’s Passion.

The whole hymn is sung during the ceremony of the Adoration of the Cross on Good Friday, immediately after the Improperia or "Reproaches", but in a peculiar manner, the hymn being preceded by the eighth stanza (Crux fidelis) while the stanzas are followed alternately by the first four and the last two lines of the (divided) eighth stanza.

Below, we include the text of the hymn (together with Fr. Caswall’s translation). Additionally, we have embedded a recording of a selection from the hymn. For an explanation of whether and why we worship the cross see our previous discussions here, here, and here.